


Kintsugi

by bottomlessblue



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I just think they'd be friends that's all, mention of Fridays shadows player, more than meets the eye!, pottery time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29859951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottomlessblue/pseuds/bottomlessblue
Summary: After just beginning to find herself in Yellowstone, Jaylen Hotdogfingers suddenly finds herself a member of the Hawai'i Fridays. Knowing there's more to blaseball's most feared legend than what meets the eye, Jacob Winner decides to introduce Jaylen to his other favorite pastime.
Relationships: Jacob Winner and Jaylen Hotdogfingers
Kudos: 14





	Kintsugi

“Jacob, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise! It’s one of my favorite places in the islands.”

“Jacob, I’ve already seen the Fridays’ gym,” Jaylen said wryly.

He laughed. “It’s not the gym, I promise. But did you like the gym? I set it up myself,” he added quickly.

“It’s a pretty nice gym,” she had to admit. “Never done my workout in a place with that kind of view before,” she said, recalling the pristine vista of the sea.

“Okay, we’re here,” he said pulling the minivan into a small parking lot in front of a nondescript row of shops and buildings - it could be part of a strip mall in any of the cities Jaylen had played for and would be unremarkable anywhere.

“Really? Here?” she said, disbelieving. “This is one of your favorite places in the islands?” She thought of the incredible sights she had already seen in her few short days in Hawai’i, and shook her head.

“Absolutely!” Jacob led her to one of the storefronts and pulled open the door for her, a small bell chiming at the movement.

The elderly woman behind the counter looked up from her magazine at the noise and smiled widely. “Jacob, dear! Welcome back! We weren’t expecting you until Friday. And who’s this?” she asked, standing up to greet Jaylen.

“Hisae, this is Jaylen Hotdogfingers, she’s the newest player for the Fridays! I’m showing her around all the important places,” Jacob said. “Jaylen, this is Hisae, and this is her studio! I like to come here when I’m not playing blaseball, to make pottery.”

Jaylen barely heard him, however, as she was transfixed by the room she had entered. While the outside of the building was as plain as anything could be, the inside was a riot of color. Every surface was painted, with murals of the sea, of plumeria and hibiscus, of cherry blossoms and chrysanthemums. Glass cases along the walls displayed the most intricate works of handmade pottery - vases, platters, and bowls rested on glass shelves, humble if not for their beautiful designs. 

She walked slowly along the cases, admiring the craftsmanship, but then was brought to a halt. Before her was a tiny figurine of a bird, no bigger than her thumb, but the detail was so fine it appeared lifelike. Red and black wings outstretched in flight, curved red beak dipping gently into a ceramic flower. The small identification card next to the bird - an ‘i’iwi, she tried to remember - noted the artist as one Jacob Winner.

Jaylen turned to look at him, pointing at the lovely statuette. “You made this, Jacob?”

“Oh, well, yeah,” he said, suddenly shy, putting both hands in his pockets. “Fletcher said he would model for me once, and well, I think it came out pretty good.”

“It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea...”

Behind her, the sudden thump of wet clay caught her by surprise. She peeked through the beaded curtain to see Hisae setting up two pottery wheels. “Come on back, you two! I’ve got everything all ready to go!”

Jaylen paled. “Oh, no, I uh, I couldn’t, I-I’ve never done pottery before, I’ll make a mess of it,” she rambled.

“That’s why I brought you here!” Jacob said eagerly. “I think everyone should try this once, you know?”

Jacob waited for Jaylen to sit, then sat at the wheel across from her. She watched for a moment as he got to work quickly, hands gliding smoothly over the clay, foot steady on the pedal.

Okay, I can do this, she thought. She put both hands on the lump of clay before her and eased her foot onto the pedal to start the spinning wheel. She was immediately taken aback by the speed of the wheel, unsure how to control the clay, feeling it slip through her fingers. She stopped, frustrated, flicking bits of clay off the front of her new aloha-print flannel, which Sutton Dreamy had assured her looked good and not at all ridiculous.

He didn’t take his eyes off his own project, but Jacob spoke up, “Don’t worry about getting it right. Just focus on making something that feels right. The clay will tell you what it wants to be eventually.”

Voice dry, Jaylen asked, “The clay wants to be something? Isn’t it just clay?”

“Totally!” he paused. “I mean it totally wants to be something. It just takes practice to hear it, that’s all.”

Jaylen tentatively began the spinning wheel again, trying to mimic Jacob’s posture and the way he held his hands over the clay as he shaped it. “I’m listening to you clay,” she joked. “I’m all ears.”

Jacob laughed his booming laugh, hands steady all the while. For a time they worked in silence, Jaylen concentrating hard on what she was trying to make into a bowl of some sort? At least that’s what she thought she was making, maybe it was what the clay wanted to be.

When she paused to stretch her back, she looked at Jacob across from her - the bulked-up gym rat of the Fridays, in his backwards snapback and SUN’S OUT GUNS OUT tank top. He had worked much faster than she had; he was now using some kind of stylus to inscribe a repeating motif over the surface of a dramatic flaring vase. 

“Jacob, how did you get into pottery in the first place?” she asked, as she began spinning again. “I mean, no offense, but you don’t seem like the type.”

He grinned as he replied, “You know, everyone says that! I don’t see what the big deal is.” He thought for a minute. “You haven’t met Itsuki yet, right? So a while back I was going through some stuff, and she told me about kintsugi. It’s like...” he paused, squinting down at his vase. “If something breaks, there’s a Japanese tradition of repairing it with gold lacquer, to make it even more beautiful than before, without hiding the fact that it was broken.”

He set down his stylus as Jaylen picked one up, ready to begin some kind of design on the lumpy, uneven, but mostly bowl-shaped clay in front of her. “That’s what inspired me to get these tattoos,” he added, gesturing at the tattoos over his top surgery scars, just visible from the open arm holes of the wide gym tank.

“Anyway, Itsuki brought me here and introduced me to Hisae. And I guess I just kinda fell in love with it, you know? It’s relaxing, and it feels good to make something with my hands. It’s actually a lot like working out!” he enthused. “Doing a set to build muscle is a lot like throwing a vase. It’s about listening to your body or listening to the clay.”

Jaylen smiled. “I like that a lot, actually.” She set down the stylus and gently lifted her bowl from the table to show him. “What do you think?” She had drawn a cartoonish cat face on the inside of the bowl, and did her best to draw little cat paws around the outside rim. “I’m gonna bring it home to my cats next time we’re in Seattle.”

Jacob beamed. “I love it! See, people say you’re a blaseball machine, but I knew there was more to you than the game.”

Jaylen laughed. “I guess there is,” she said. “Maybe there really is.”


End file.
